Polyethers as potential electron donors for Ziegler–Natta ethylene polymerization catalysts

•Ziegler–Natta catalysts using polyethers as new electron donors.•Influence of catalyst preparation method on catalyst composition was studied.•Formation of poly(ethylene glycol)/TiCl4 complex decreases polymerization activity.•Partial decomposition of poly(tetrahydrofuran) in the presence of δ-MgCl2.

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(tetrahydrofuran) (PTHF) were studied as possible electron donors for heterogeneous Ziegler–Natta catalysts employed for ethylene polymerization. Two synthetic routes were applied for the preparation of the catalysts by mixing the polyether and TiCl4 with δ-MgCl2 support in the same step or at different stages of the catalyst synthesis. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) studies revealed a clear interaction between PEG and δ-MgCl2 inducing changes in the chain conformation of the polyether. If PEG was added at the same stage with TiCl4, a yellow PEG/TiCl4 complex was formed and the activity of the catalyst was decreased. A partial decomposition of PTHF to tetrahydrofuran (THF) in contact with δ-MgCl2 was evidenced from the FT-IR and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy data. The decomposition could be induced by the Lewis acid sites or by possible organomagnesium compounds present in the synthesized δ-MgCl2. However, the decomposition did not have a negative effect on the polymerization behavior of the prepared catalysts, when compared to the reference catalysts where THF was initially used as a donor. The catalysts prepared with polyethers as electron donor showed good activity in ethylene (around 1000 kgP/molTi h) and in ethylene/1-hexene (around 1600 kgP/molTi h) polymerizations.

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